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1) Report: War Against Iraq To Start Om March 13; French President To Be Next Target 2) US Congress Plans (Economic) War Against France http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_203299,00130018.htm The Hindustan Times March 4, 2003 Iraq war may start on Mar 13: Report Press Trust of India London, March 3 -"One of the first casualties of the conflict - apart from Saddam - is likely to be French President Jacques Chirac" who is against war on Iraq, the paper said. It said US President George W Bush telephoned Chirac last week and told him that "we will not forgive and we will not forget." A US-led war against Iraq could start as soon as March 13, just hours after a crucial UN Security Council vote on Baghdad, a media report said on Monday. "The moment we know we have the nine (UN Security Council) votes needed (for a military action against Iraq), we will go for it. The military won't hang around after that," a top US intelligence source was quoted as saying by Britain's Sun newspaper. "The timing is tactical," the unnamed intelligence source said. A new Iraq resolution is expected to be put to vote in UN Security Council on March 12, following this Friday's report by UN Chief UN Weapons Inspector Hans Blix on Iraq. The paper also reported that allied commander warned Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein last night that the war "will be soon, it will be swift and it will be short." It said Saddam's palaces and other known hiding places will be targeted, and ground troops will go in as soon as possible after the "bomb blitz." "One of the first casualties of the conflict - apart from Saddam - is likely to be French President Jacques Chirac" who is against war on Iraq, the paper said. It said US President George W Bush telephoned Chirac last week and told him that "we will not forgive and we will not forget." Both France and US are the permanent members of the 15-member UN Security Council. The other three permanent members are Russia, China and Britain. ------------------------------------------------------- http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1045511291877&p=1012571727166 Financial Times March 3, 2003 Congress considers measures against France By Deborah McGregor -His comments reflect a growing resentment in Congress that may yet result in punitive legislation, directed mainly at France but also extending to other European countries, including Germany. Dennis Hastert, the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, has a reputation for being a calming presence among his highly strung troops. The former high-school wrestling coach is inclined to throw a burly arm around an irate colleague, counselling patience rather than revolution. But recently Mr Hastert has surprised many of his fellow Republicans with outbursts of frustration, both privately and publicly, against an unlikely target: France. At a recent closed-door gathering of House Republicans, he launched into an impassioned tirade against France that was greeted with resounding approval from the party rank and file. The most high-profile public outburst came in an interview Mr Hastert gave recently to his hometown newspaper, the Chicago Tribune. He urged "going nose-to-nose" with Paris over its vocal opposition to US war plans for Iraq. Denouncing French "obstreperousness", he slammed the European nation for being motivated by commercial interests in Iraqi oil production and for trying to use diplomatic tensions at the United Nations to increase its international influence. His comments reflect a growing resentment in Congress that may yet result in punitive legislation, directed mainly at France but also extending to other European countries, including Germany. Several Republicans have echoed Mr Hastert's sentiment, including Senator John McCain, who recently compared France to a fading beauty. "They remind me of an ageing movie actress in the 1940s who's still trying to dine out on her looks," said Mr McCain. "The cynical role France is playing proves that you cannot be a great nation unless you have great purpose, and they've lost their purpose." Reflecting the toughening attitude, Bill Thomas, the powerful Republican chairman of the House ways and means committee, has already suggested that if the EU does not substantially reform its agricultural policy the Congress may vote to leave the World Trade Organisation. Congress is due to vote on renewing the US's WTO membership in 2005. Mr Hastert has cited a list of trade-related grievances against France and recommended putting bright orange health warning labels on some imported French wines. He is preparing legislation that would require warnings that the wine may contain cow's blood, a traditional agent used to remove excess tannins from red wine that was banned by the European Union in 1998 because of concerns about mad cow disease. "I think it's a health issue that we ought to at least let people know this product has been manufactured with raw bovine blood," the congressman said. Some of the complaints reflect the economic interests of his home state of Illinois, where farmers have long objected to the EU's restrictive farm policies. Boeing and Caterpillar, both based in Illinois, are two of the biggest beneficiaries of a tax credit that the EU has challenged through the WTO. But more broadly, Mr Hastert's complaints represent a visceral anger at France - unfairly or not - shared by a growing number of lawmakers. At the weekend Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator from South Carolina, launched a blistering attack on Paris's Iraq position, suggesting that the French were "appeasers". John Warner, the chairman of the Senate armed services committee, also castigated France in unusually harsh terms. In a weekend interview on ABC television, Mr Warner recalled that his father fought in the first world war as a young doctor. "I proudly have on the wall in my Senate office the French government's Croix de Guerre given to him. I thought about taking it down. "But then I said to myself 'no'. The longer picture is France and the United States must remain leaders in the world. And this is, I hope, just a temporary problem." Some Democrats, too, have joined the chorus. "France and Germany are important allies of America - but, in this case, the tone and volume of their dissent is in danger of drowning out the voice of a nearly united Europe," said Joseph Lieberman, the Democratic senator and presidential contender. How lasting the rift in relations proves to be will depend, in large part, on how the Iraq crisis plays out. Dominique de Villepin, the French foreign minister, has repeatedly tried to draw a distinction between France's opposition to the US instinct for war against Saddam Hussein and the enduring ties between the two countries. "We thank every day the support that the Americans gave us during the first [world] war and the second war," he said. "But we know closely what war is. And we are asking ourselves: is this war worth it?" __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! 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